


Inaugural rain

by Woodface



Category: Rookie Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, F/F, Gen, Role Reversal, UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-02-10 14:00:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2027691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woodface/pseuds/Woodface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's raining. It has been raining since her plane touched down only four days ago at Pearson. So, of course, the first crime scene she gets called out to lies in the middle of the woods and it's still raining.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inaugural rain

**Author's Note:**

> Cécile gave me the following prompt: "Gail and Holly, reverse the roles AU (Holly's the cop, Gail's the forensic pathologist). First meeting/first day together."
> 
> Big thanks to Shai for being an awesome beta!

It's raining. It has been raining since her plane touched down only four days ago at Pearson. So, of course, the first crime scene she gets called out to lies in the middle of the woods and it's still raining. It's the rain that unearthed the body while washing away any evidence they might hope to find, and it's the same rain that has them trapped inside the tent her team has drawn up to protect the last traces of a story that might never be told. Gail can hear the drops falling heavily against the white canvas, but she wishes she was still out there in the fresh air rather than being stuck inside the tent where the humid summer air is trapped along with the scent of decay.

She feels gross as the heat sticks to her skin and has her hair is plastered against her scalp, and really, Gail can't blame the gagging reflex of the officer who enters the tent and freezes at its entrance, the back of her hand pressed against her nose. "Oh geesh, that's just…" the officer turns away, turning her face towards the cooler, cleaner air and the scent of pines.

"Foul?" Gail supplies helpfully, her smirk only grows wider as the takes in the tie the officer is wearing. "First murder scene?"

The rookie doesn't even try to use any words, her hands stays pressed firmly in front of her nose and mouth as she nods mutely.

"Breathe through your mouth, rookie. It will get better," Gail laughs. She's not sure if it really does, but it's been a long time since anything coming from a human body has grossed her out.

"I doubt it." Gail can read the rookie's nametag as she turns back towards her, but her eyes stay trained to a spot right above Gail's shoulder. "Detective Swarek's ordered me to stick around. Anything you find, I'm supposed to call through to him." It's an obvious effort at professionalism, but Gail can make out the sickened look as fascination gets the better of the rookie and her eyes trail down to the body.

Gail's gaze moves with it and her grin fades. It's just a girl, nothing more than a girl in her mid-teens. The marks across her body tell an ugly story, one of a struggle and a fight lost. Time and decay have only made it more gruesome. A nervous movement in her peripheral vision draws her back to the tent and the rain beating its rhythm on the canvas. 

The rookie looks apprehensive as if she's waiting for something and Gail remembers that she never quite responded. "Fine," it sounds dismissive, but that's what it is anyway and she doesn't even notice when the rookie finally slips out of the tent.

===

Gail stretches with a groan, her muscles protesting after an hour crouched over a dead body, but she's satisfied that she's gathered everything she's going to be able to find. The rain and mud did a lot of damage, but hopefully not enough to wipe away all traces of whoever did this. Her gaze drifts to the white tarp overhead, the patter of the rain has turned into a staccato and it feels like it may never stop. 

There's a shadow just outside the tent and Gail realises she hasn't seen the rookie since they talked. With a last roll of her shoulders, she moves to the entrance and pulls the flaps aside. Sure enough, the rookie's still there, water seeping miserably from the woman's police cap. Her ponytail is limp and sticking to the back of her neck and Gail can't help the laugh. It earns her a glare, but it melts away almost instantly, lips curving in a soft, wistful smile as Stewart shrugs her shoulders.

"You could have waited inside, rookie," Gail smirks and pulls her hood up as she steps out into the rain.

"I really couldn't," the rookie insists with a shake of her head. It's followed by a shiver as some of the rain slides down her collar and Gail feels almost sorry for her.

"Could have gone back to your car," she suggests as she moves past the rookie and back up the narrow trail to where her car is parked. 

"I needed to stick close in case you had some information I needed to call through," Stewart answers as she follows Gail. "Besides, my partner took the car when he headed back to the station."

"Some partner," Gail smirks. She regrets the cockiness or the urge she had to glance back as the path isn't so much a path as a slippery slope of earth that sends her sliding. It's only Stewart's grip on her elbow that keeps her up from ending face down in the mud. 

"Thanks," Gail mutters, shifting away from the touch. It's irrational to feel irritated, but that's never stopped her before and suddenly it becomes a challenge to make it clean and dirt free back to her car. She can feel the rookie hovering behind her the entire time, like some overly helpful puppy that she's stuck with now. 

By the time they make it back to the road and her car, Gail is out of breath and there's mud on her shoes and her pants. Toronto is starting to feel like a bad idea, but at least the rookie looks more miserable than her. Just not miserable enough for Gail to feel any sort of sympathy considering how disgustingly fit the woman looks despite their trek through the mud.

The rain starts up harder again now that they've cleared the trees and Gail quickly puts her sample kit in the trunk of her car. When she moves back to the front of the car, Stewart is standing huddled by the passenger door and Gail rolls her eyes at her. "You're supposed to get in," she says, not waiting to see if the rookie will listen.

"Way to welcome someone back, Toronto," Gail complains as she shrugs out of her jacket and throws it in the backseat, not wanting to deal with the wetness. It's bad enough that she's got to deal with her jeans sticking to her thighs. 

The rookie casts her a look through rain speckled glasses. She's unzipped her coat and the wet police cap is sitting on her knee. There's a question on her face, but Gail ignores it, turning on the radio instead as she starts up the engine and pulls onto the road. 

"I'm Holly Stewart, by the way," they're almost halfway back to the city when the rookie - _Holly_ \- interrupts the silence Gail had so skilfully created. "Probably should have said that sooner."

"I figured half of that out already," Gail assures her, purposely not looking at her companion.

"Right." The silence that follows stretches awkwardly between them and Gail thinks she's won this, thinks that Holly will just give up talking to her now, but that'd be too easy. Of course, that'd be too easy. "So…"

Gail doesn't have to look at Holly to know the expectant look she's getting, but she's not one to meet people's expectations. She's learned to embrace that fact when she told her family that she wouldn't be going to the police academy. "So?"

"So this is the part where you give me your name and then I say it's nice to make your acquaintance," Holly prompts. It's almost disappointing how she doesn't sound annoyed or frustrated and Gail tears her eyes from the road to take in the slight curve of Holly's lips as she waits for an answer.

"Yeah, let's skip that," Gail decides, turning her attention back to the rain slick street. "Most of the time that's a complete and utter lie, anyway."

"Why would it be a lie?" Holly asks, sounding like she's honestly curious. It's far from the indignation Gail would have expected.

"Really? We just met over a dead body," Gail shoots Holly a brief but pointed look, but Holly's just smiling and Gail huffs, biting back a grin.

"Okay, I'll give you that," Holly agrees. It almost sounds like that will be the end of it, but Gail is starting to think there is no end with this woman. "I'd still like to know."

It's irritating how genuine Holly actually sounds and well, it's a bit of ridiculous battle she's waging anyway, so giving Holly her name isn't that big of a deal. "Gail." She can be petty.

"Just Gail?" 

Gail hums and she doesn't give Holly a chance to respond this time. She likes being _just_ Gail for a little while longer. "You're way too much of a nerd to be a cop."

"What?" There's the sound of creaking leather beside her and when Gail looks, Holly has turned in her seat to face her. It only serves to prove Gail's point, really.

"You have this bookworm look and it's not just the glasses. I've seen plenty of girls your type in my lifetime. You even _smell_ like a nerd," she informs her, smirking at Holly.

"Wait, _I_ 'm the nerd while you studied how many years?" Holly asks, Gail can almost hear the frown in her words.

"Eight," Gail drums her fingers against the steering wheel, feeling pretty satisfied with herself. "And yeah, pretty much. I mean, you could have gone for contacts. That'd be a hell of a lot more practical for a cop, but you insist on wearing those glasses…"

"I like these glasses."

It's almost a pout and Gail finds herself laughing. It comes too easily. "You just proved my point, _nerd_."

===

It's only when there's a Styrofoam cup sitting on her desk that Gail realises she's been smelling coffee. When she looks up, Holly is standing on the other side of the desk. Her hair is damp again, but Gail can't for the life of her remember Holly actually leaving. 

"You're welcome," Holly says while rummages in the pocket of her jacket and pulls out a handful of sugar packs and cups of milk which drops down beside Gail's cup. "I didn't know how you take your coffee," she explains when Gail doesn't react to the offering she just made.

"That's because you didn't ask. I might not even like coffee." It'd be more convincing if she wasn't already reaching eagerly for the cup, but she doesn't much care about being convincing. There is coffee and it's not just the dreg they try to sell in the cafeteria. 

"Oh please," Holly rolls her eyes as she shrugs out of her jacket. "You science nerds are all the same; you practically live on the stuff."

"Okay," Gail glares at her and the now empty sugar packages scrunch in her palm as she holds up a finger. "One, I am _not_ a nerd; you are. Two, it's not like you can talk. I know how cops work, the amount of coffee that gets consumed at the police station could supply this lab for a whole month."

"Touché," Holly laughs and she seems satisfied to let the conversation lapse back into silence as she drops down in her chair, stretching out her legs in front of her. She's been in that position most of the day, trying not to make a nuisance out of herself while Gail works. Gail would be bored out of her mind by now, but Holly hasn't complained once, looking irritatingly at ease where she is. Somehow she doesn't even look rumpled, her shirt is still all neat lines. It's utterly unfair for a nerd to look that good and Gail makes a face behind her cup.

"I'm taking it you know all this because your last name is Peck," Holly says idly, pulling Gail out of her thoughts about shoulders and well-fitting uniforms.

"Guess you're aiming for detective." The coffee doesn't taste nearly as good anymore and Gail puts it down, turning her attention back to her computer to see if the lab has sent in the results yet.

"You've got a brother in Guns & Gangs?"

"You should have asked me if my mother's the superintendent." Her inbox is empty and Gail gets up, heading back to the table to continue her examination. She expects Holly to push, to ask questions, but Holly stays quiet and Gail goes back to forgetting she's even there. 

===

Sometimes Gail hates her job. She's spent hours going over every little detail and all she's got to show for it is a sore back. Whoever did this knew what they were doing and that's about as fucked up as the fact that she can't scrape together enough evidence to ID a sixteen year old girl. Even with the time of death, there isn't enough to link her to one of the missing person files. Gail doesn't even want to think about what that means.

Things went even further downhill when Swarek showed up unannounced; demanding to know what the hell was taking them so long. Gail knows she probably shouldn't have shouted at him to get the hell out of her lab, but it happened and she refuses to feel bad about it. Rushing her only ends up being counterproductive and she's still so angry that she can't piece two thoughts together.

"You okay?" 

No matter how soft the question is, Gail still startles and for a moment she's left staring at Holly who is giving her this slightly bemused look. Somehow Holly has been the least annoying thing about her day. It makes little to no sense, but some of the tension pressed between her shoulderblades eases away.

"There's a reason they advised me not to work with actually live patients," Gail huffs and she pulls her gloves off with a snap, tossing them in the bin.

"Bad bedside manners?" Holly guesses, lips quirked in a way that's becoming familiar. 

"So I've been told," Gail agrees, pressing her lips together to keep from smiling in return because she's still irritated. The headache that's settle right behind her eyes isn't helping either and she presses her fingers to the bridge of her nose, wishing it to go away.

"You want me to go?" Holly asks after a moment, voice still gentle and Gail tells herself she's imagining any sort of concern that might be there. 

"You're good," Gail says, waving off the question as she drops back down behind her computer. She's starting to feel sluggish as she stares at the screen, knowing that she's missing something and she's not yet ready to give up just yet. 

"I could get us food." Gail looks up from her monitor to find Holly standing on the other side of the desk, giving Gail a look that she can't decipher. Not that this is surprising as it seems to be the fucking theme of her day.

"Food," Gail repeats slowly because it doesn't fit in with the numbers and facts that are clogging up her brain. "You're one of those feeder types, aren't you?"

Holly grins and shrugs a shoulder. "Maybe, or I might just be hungry. It's late."

Gail grimaces when she realises just how late it actually is. Doing overtime on her first week hadn't been part of the plan, but she supposes the boxes stacked in her apartment can wait another day. "What time does your shift end?"

"Nine p.m.," Holly says cheerfully.

"That's an hour ago," Gail shakes her head. "Call Swarek and tell him to send another babysitter around."

"What? Tired of me already?" Holly's grin is way too bright for the day Gail's had.

Gail narrows her eyes at her, refusing to let it show just how not irksome she finds it. "Don't you have like a boyfriend or a dog to go home to, rookie?" 

"Girlfriend," Holly corrects, casually, turning on her heels and heading for the door. "I'm getting us food and you're going to like it."

"Only because I'll eat anything," Gail calls after of her. It's unacceptable how long it takes her to focus on what matters after that.

===

It should worry Gail that they actually have a lounge in the building with a comfortable couch and armchairs. It's the sort of thing an employer only offers when they expect you to do overtime, but right now, Gail is beyond caring. Her headache had dissipated once she ate the delicious offering of Vietnamese food that Holly got them. The empty boxes are littering the table, but Gail is beyond thoughts of cleaning up their mess. 

It's blissfully quiet. There's only the mechanical sound of the fridge that sits in the corner of the room, but its hum is soothing and it manages to drone out whatever thoughts she has left. It's like she's in her own bubble and the rest of the world has stopped moving. It's just her and Holly. Holly, who is sitting at the other end of the table, is looking as exhausted as Gail feels. At some point, she undid the tie that marks her as a rookie and some of the buttons of her shirt are open now. Gail finds herself staring at tan, smooth skin. The soft rise and fall every time Holly takes a breath is hypnotic. Gail knows she's let too much time pass already, but she can't seem to work up the energy to get up and go back to the lab, to fill her brain with too many questions and too little answers.

"We're not going to find out anything more tonight," she forces herself to look away and rolls onto her back, staring up at the blotched ceiling instead.

"Giving up?" Holly teases. There's no bite or challenge to the words and for once Gail doesn't feel the need to find offense.

"No, just thinking a break might be the wisest course of action. There's only so much a brain can take in one day." Her mother would have something to say about that and there's still a part of her that thinks this is admitting defeat, but she's learned to ignore that. Twelve years on the other side of the country has taught her a lot. "Sorry for keeping you."

"I had to eat anyway." She can hear Holly getting to her feet. "I'll let Swarek know."

"You do that," Gail mumbles, slinging her arm across her eyes. She could just stay here on the couch, it'd save her the commute in the morning. 

She never actually meant to sleep, but she must have because she wakes to the light press of fingers against her knee and there's definitely a gap in her memory. When she lets her arm fall away, the light in the room is dimmer than she remembers and her brain feels sluggish as she blinks up at Holly.

"Come on, sleeping beauty, let's get you home." Holly's voice is soft, but there's amusement written all over her face and Gail finds herself staring for a moment too long.

"You couldn't come up with anything more original than that?" she hates how long it takes her to come up with the response, but it's enough as the pressure on her knee disappears.

"Just calling it as I'm seeing it," Holly shrugs and offers her hand to Gail.

"I can't fault you there." It's far easier to be cocky than to think about the tightness in the pit of her stomach as she grabs Holly's hand and lets her help her up to her feet. "What did Swarek say?" 

"Nothing much other than that you'll have to put up with me for another day."

It's hard to mind when Gail realises the lounge is spotless and Holly must have cleaned it up while she'd been napping. It's embarrassing, really, and she wonders how she ever managed to pull all those all-nighters and still go to an exam the next day. She decides she doesn't care and lets Holly guide her outside. She even forgets to argue when Holly asks her for her keys. Driving is the last thing she wants to do right now and somehow it's not so bad to let go of the reigns for just this moment, for just as long as it takes Holly to get her home.

When they hit the road, it's raining again. Or it still is raining, Gail doesn't particularly care which of the two it is, but it's hypnotic to watch the windshield wipers move lazily across the windshield, drawing stripes of light across her vision. It's the only sound filling the car and that's fine with her. She wants to linger in this moment, wants to linger in the silence both in the car and in her mind. For just this little while there is no girl lying on an icy cold slab in her lab, waiting for Gail to find her name, to find the story written permanently into her skin. There is no family waiting anxiously for a phone call that will break their lives. There are no boxes in Gail's apartment waiting to emptied, and there are no bazillion voice messages from her mother waiting on her answering machine. For just a little while, she can be a passenger and watch the rain slowly spatter across the windshield, clogging up her vision.

It doesn't last - it never does, - because all too soon they're parked outside her apartment building. The windshield wipers are silent now, only the sound of rain against the roof of the car is left and the soft jingle of her car keys as Holly pulls them from the ignition.

"Do you live close by?" The words slip from her lips before she fully understands why the question is important and why she probably should have asked this before they got into the car.

"Not particularly." Holly doesn't sound concerned, but Gail turns towards her, frowning. "I'll call a cab."

"You could take my car," Gail's not sure where the offer comes from, but it's about on par with anything else she's been doing ever since Holly drew her out of her lab with the promise of food.

"I don't think you've known me long enough to trust me with your car, Gail," Holly laughs, her smile is honest as she holds out the keys. Gail ignores them.

"You're a cop. If I can't trust the police, who am I going to trust?" She might have gone insane, but now that the offer is out there, Gail refuses to take it back. "Besides, my mother's the superintendent. You steal my car and I'll have your job." 

Holly snorts and shakes her head, but she lowers her arm a little, studying Gail carefully. Gail can't blame her, really. She wouldn't trust an offer like this either. "You can pick me up in the morning. I expect you to be here at seven sharp. Think you can handle that, rookie?"

"Please," Holly rolls her eyes at her, but Gail knows she's won and she's pretty pleased about that. "I get the feeling I can handle being early and on time better than you."

Gail actually laughs and unbuckles the seatbelt, pushing open the door. "Maybe," she agrees as she gets out, "but you'll just have to deal with that. I suggest you bring coffee."

She's out of the car before Holly can reply and it's only when the door closes behind her that she hears Holly drive away.


End file.
